Why do you turn on the television? Why do you open a magazine? Why do you read the newspaper, whether it is online or folded and crumpled on your coffee table?

We want to be entertained, amused and educated and the reason you open the laptop, turn on the tablet or browse on the mobile, is that we are seeking information and it is called content.

Google earns $30 billion a year indexing and helping you find information and content. In an information age, creating content should become the focus of your marketing, whether it is for the consumer or for business.

The Difference Between Success and Failure

Content comes in all types of formats, shapes and styles and often the creator has only a few brief seconds to entice you to go beyond the headline or the opening line.

Creating compelling contagious content can be the difference between success and failure of any media marketing venture whether it be social, mass media or traditional.

So where do you start?

Well for one it’s not about you, it’s about “them” your prospects,customers, viewers and readers.

Step 1: Find and Define your Target Audience

There are many questions to ask here and if you are a large organisation or brand then your advertising agency will certainly tell you who they are. They could be female and aged between 25 and 34 or they could be male and be in the 40-50 bracket.

But you need to know much more!

What television shows do they watch?

What magazines do they read?

What words do they use?

What events do they attend?

What fashion do they like?

What music do they listen to?

If you are creating content for a B2B market then you ned to consider 3 core topic categories

Of course, it doesn’t take much to get me back in the saddle, especially when a report is released about branding.

MillwardBrown has released its annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Brands in 2012. Among the findings are two little nuggets that caught my attention.

First up, news that once again Google has slipped in its rankings. Just two years ago,Google was the top brand on the list, but this year its gradual decline continues, with a drop to #3. I know, I know, that’s still pretty impressive, but a drop two years in a row sure does look like a trend to me. In fact, Google is dangerously close to being overtaken by McDonalds!

The digital landscape has changed a lot over the years, and the number of internet users logging on to email, shopping for shoes and sending tweets has positively exploded.
But how many people are actually online? And how many of those people are tweeting?

This infographic from web marketing companyCustomer Magnetism tracks the evolution of the web from what it was ten years ago to the massive global force that it’s become today. And the results are fascinating.

For instance, social networking has, obviously, seen the largest increase in the past ten years of any online activity. From just 11 percent of internet users logging on to a social network (and yes, they did exist) in 2002, now 65 percent of us are digitally social creatures.

And Twitter itself enjoyed the massive overall growth of social media in the past few years, going from about 5,000 tweets per day in 2007 to 2.5 million in 2009 – then jumping nearly ten times to 200 million in 2011.

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Not surprisingly, settlement talks between Apple and Samsung over their patent dispute have reportedly not resulted in any agreement.Instead, both sides are back in court arguing over proposed sanctions.

According to court documents, the executives and their legal teams met in a San Francisco courtroomfor nine hours on Monday and seven hours on Tuesday. Samsung and Apple have not yet filed documents about what was discussed.

A Samsung spokesman said the company is “unable to provide any details of the meeting.” Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Highlighting the lack of an agreement is a Wednesday filing from Samsung that accuses Apple of concealing evidence. Specifically, “Apple withheld 283 relevant deposition transcripts (totaling more than 34,000 pages of testimony) throughout the discovery period, and indeed for six weeks thereafter, preventing Samsung from using these materials during discovery, in expert reports, and in dispositive briefing.” Seguir leyendo “Report: No Deal After Samsung, Apple Patent Talks”→

Did you know that the mobile web is expected to reach nearly two billion users by 2015, which will outrank desktop usage?

Mobile is big, and it’s getting bigger. For marketers, this presents new challenges. While the gender split between mobile users is almost equal, men and women use their phones differently when it comes to shopping. Moreover, while more than a third of mobile users social network on their phones, the smaller screen size limits a brand’s effectiveness to display an ad, certainly in a way that will be welcomed by their target audience.

This won’t stop them from trying, though – mobile advertising is on track to pass $5 billion by 2015.

Ultimately, it could be money well spent – nearly one third of consumers cite mobile as their preferred shopping method. This infographic from Hightable takes a closer look at the power and growth of mobile marketing.